Abstract : This paper answers the question: How can Aviation Depot Maintenance reform be made politically viable? The chief component of the US military's aviation infrastructure is Depot Maintenance: how the Armed Forces repairs and maintains its aircraft. Depot maintenance has a budget of just over $15 billion. Currently, the DoD has 24 major public depots, employing a total of 96,000 civilians. Congress has cut the DoD's budget by 29% since 1991. Yet, the Depot budget has only decreased by 10%. If passed by Congress, depot reform has the potential to save between $2-$9 billion. Congress has legislated three major constraints on how the DoD manages depot maintenance. First, public sector depots must perform 60% of the total depot maintenance workload. Second, the Services may not relocate depot work valued at over $3 million. Finally, in 1994 Congress required that public depots must maintain equipment within five years of delivery, a direct reaction to the cradle-to-grave' management innovation. An act of Congress is required to change the laws. Fortunately, two major events have dramatically changed the political landscape of depot reform: the 1994 Elections and the BRAC Closures. The affects of these two changes are wide ranging, and have opened a strategic window of opportunity for depot reform. In addition, the closures have placed Congresspersons, who had previously opposed reform, into a neutral or supportive stance for reform. Unshackled from the political need to protect a depot, this paper has discovered two key allies in the fight for depot reform: John Kasich and Herbert Bateman. Successfully depot reform must address the four key concerns of the Congresspersons involved. (KAR) P. 3